


side by side and hand in hand;

by Remy (iamremy)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Coda, Episode: s10e23 My Brother's Keeper, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-21
Updated: 2015-05-21
Packaged: 2018-03-31 13:57:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3980647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamremy/pseuds/Remy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They sit together in the Impala, hands held so tightly it hurts, and wait for the Darkness to pass them by.</p>
            </blockquote>





	side by side and hand in hand;

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Polski available: [side by side and hand in hand](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4965364) by [whynothulk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/whynothulk/pseuds/whynothulk)



> I COULDN'T NOT, THAT IS THE ONLY EXCUSE I HAVE.

It sounds like the earth itself is trying to split itself into pieces, the ground shrieking and rumbling beneath them and all around them, and Dean knows fear, it's tattooed into his skin and carved into his bones, but this is an all-new kind. This is not demons or angels or werewolves or anything they've ever faced, this is not the first demon and this is not the apocalypse, this is something older than all of those things, darker and more lethal, and altogether  _terrifying._

Besides him Sam is trembling slightly where he sits, face paper-white, and Dean doesn't have to glance at his reflection in the rearview mirror to know that he's the same, the exact same. Despite the gut-wrenching rumbling and roaring outside the Impala, he can hear his heart beat in his chest, loud and erratic and scared, the blood rushing and pounding in his ears and adding to the din that makes him want to run and hide.

Sam's mouth is shaped around the sound of Dean's name and even though he can't hear it, he gets the message loud and clear, that Sam's just as scared as he is, even though he knows even less about this than Dean does. They can't see anything of the world beyond; everything is pitch-black and smoky and loud and it feels like they are just suspended in a bottomless void that isn't much of anything but a lot of  _nothing_ , and they can't ever get out. It feels like there isn't even a world beyond it anymore, like it's just Dean and Sam in their car and everything else has ceased to exist.

Dean's fumbling fingers find Sam's cold, clammy ones and hold on so tight it hurts, feels like his bones are being crushed and he knows he's doing the same to Sam's hand but neither of them stop or even let it show. This feels like the smallest comfort that Dean can find right now, and he is immeasurably grateful for it, for Sam being alive and by his side like he always should be. There is a space inside him, nestled just under his ribs, resting in the shadow of his heart, that is all _Sam_ and nothing else, and Dean knows what it's like to have that space empty. He would rather give up the world, like he has before, again, many times, past, present and future, to never feel that emptiness, that black hole again, the crushing agony of not having his brother's warmth by his side.

Death is gone, and so is the Mark, and something older and more lethal and powerful than anything they've ever known has been unleashed into the world. And Dean thinks that if it means having Sam, he will do it again a thousand times, a million, a billion, until the universe ends and there is nothing left of them but crushed bones and ashes in the wind.

The shrieking grows louder as the heart of the Darkness engulfs them and Sam automatically draws closer to Dean so that they're sitting pressed together from shoulder to knee, hands clasped and fingers intertwined and despite everything, heartbeats in sync like this is what is always meant to be - just them, side by side, no matter what else happens, and there is a sharp-edged lump in Dean's throat he can't speak past but he tries anyway.

"Sammy, close your eyes," he says softly, and this time there is so much more tenderness and love in his voice than there ever has been, and he doesn't let any of the fear and desperation and helplessness that he's feeling in overabundance leak into it.

His brother obeys, though, presses his eyes shut and leans even closer into Dean, warm and whole and  _alive_ , and Dean can't help but lean right back, as if just by trying he can integrate their bodies, hide Sam in that safe space under his ribcage and in the shadow of his heart.

And so they sit in the Impala, side by side and hand in hand, and wait for the Darkness to pass them by.

**Author's Note:**

> Thoughts?  
> [tumblr.](http://chesterbennington.co.vu)
> 
> -Remy x


End file.
